Making Ourselves Accountable to Achieving Our Goals

Looking through magazines for gift ideas recently, I stumbled upon something I hadn't seen in years, a glass piggybank. I recall receiving one when I opened my first savings account as a child. It forced me to continue to save because I didn't want to 'break' it until it was completely full, or until I had enough to purchase something I really wanted. My eyes were always on the prize.

By the '80's piggybanks had changed; they had rubber stoppers in the bottom so you were able to remove money whenever you wanted. No longer having to continue to save until you'd reached your goal, many times goals were never met, because we could remove small amounts whenever we wanted, no matter if the purchase was for something important or simply something we wanted. The bank became a place to gather loose change but it took away the demand that you reach a goal or lose it all, by having to 'break the bank'.

I think about my business goals in somewhat the same way. I have to find ways of making myself accountable to reaching my goals or they may never be met. Last year, I setup several reminders to check on my goals. When I got the first reminder, I realized, - YIKES, now where did I put those goals? I was not contributing to them as I would have liked, and I certainly had not put a system in place to remind me more often how I planned to achieve them.

It's difficult when you're the boss, isn't it? How can we make ourselves accountable for the goals we need to keep our businesses afloat in these challenging times?

Because I know many of us struggle with this, I decided to find someone willing to help me stay focused on achieving my goals, and I'm doing the same for her! Sort of a business buddy system that keeps things fresh and motivates us to always keep our goals in mind as we work on our businesses.

Now do not beat yourself up if you don't achieve a goal. They are always evolving to meet the demands of whatever's going on in your industry, or marketplace, to help your business stay strong and profitable.

So set some attainable goals for where you'd like to see yourself in 2012. Find someone you trust who will help you stay on track and make you accountable for the goals you've set.

Re-invent yourself and your business. Try new technologies. Keep in touch with your clients to see what new challenges or problems they may have that you can solve. Take your yearly goals, break them down into monthly and weekly goals, so that you are always in touch with what will be needed to attain those goals.

Be reasonable with yourself and your abilities to meet them, change or update all areas including your marketing options and tracking systems, whatever is necessary to get your business growing in the right direction, and keep making deposits in your unbreakable piggybank of growth. Stay positive and watch what happens.